"No, Isabella, said the princess, I should not deserve this incomparable parent, if the inmost recesses of my soul harboured a thought without her permission."

Metaphor in Context

Oh! doubt not my obedience, my dreadful obedience to him and to you! said Matilda. But can I, most respected of women, can I experience all this tenderness, this world of goodness, and conceal a thought from the best of mothers? What art thou going to utter? said Isabella trembling. Recollect thyself, Matilda. No, Isabella, said the princess, I should not deserve this incomparable parent, if the inmost recesses of my soul harboured a thought without her permission--Nay, I have offended her; I have suffered a passion to enter my heart without her avowal--But here I disclaim it; here I vow to heaven and her--My child! my child! said Hippolita, what words are these? What new calamities has fate in store for us? Thou, a passion! thou, in this hour of destruction----Oh! I see all my guilt! said Matilda. I abhor myself, if I cost my mother a pang. She is the dearest thing I have on earth--Oh! I will never, never behold him more! Isabella, said Hippolita, thou art conscious to this unhappy secret, whatever it is. (p. 88)

Second edition of 1765 subtitled "A Gothic Story." Third edition in 1766; sixth edition by Dodsley in 1791. Several new editions in 1790s. See first edition: The Castle of Otranto, a Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. from the original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto (London: Tho. Lownds, 1764). <Link to ECCO>